Hoop Body Shapes: Big, Small and Long
Each student has a hoop and moves to the beat of a hand drum; when it stops, they make the shape the teacher calls: tiny inside the hoop, huge with hands and feet sticking out, or long lying across it. Then partners share a hoop.
How to play
- Give each student a hoop and scatter them around the playground at least 6 feet apart (2 min).
- While the drum plays, everyone jogs around the hoops without stepping in them. When it stops, each student jumps into an empty hoop (2 min).
- The teacher calls a shape and everyone makes it: small as a ball inside, big as a star with one foot inside, long lying across the hoop, wide with arms out (4 min).
- Add points of contact: small with only feet inside, big with one hand and one foot inside, long with the belly inside. Hold for 5 seconds (4 min).
- Remove half the hoops and make shapes with a partner sharing a hoop: both small, one big and one small, both long making a cross (5 min).
- To finish, each pair invents a shape and the class copies it (1 min).
Rules
- Jog without stepping or jumping into hoops while the drum is playing.
- If two students reach the same hoop, the first to touch it keeps it, or they share.
- For lying shapes, make sure no one is right next to you so you don't kick anyone.
- Hold shapes without pushing your partner out of the hoop.
Variations
Easier
Use only small and big shapes with the whole body inside the hoop.
Standard
Combine shapes with a set number of body parts inside the hoop.
Harder
Make shapes in pairs or trios in one hoop with limited points of contact.
Adaptations
- For a student in a wheelchair, place the hoop on the floor in front and make shapes with arms and trunk, or reach into a hoop held up by a partner.
- For students with visual impairments, use hoops with bells or texture and a buddy guide.
- For students who need more intensity, swap the jog for jumping or side shuffling between stops.
Learning goals
- Adjust the size and shape of the body to a marked space.
- Show big, small, long and wide with one's own body.
- Share space and coordinate with a partner.
Equipment for a class of 25
- hoops: 25
- hand drum: 1
Teacher tip
Plastic hoops slide on smooth floors, so play outside or tape them down in the gym.
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